Srinagar: Some Chinese residents and People's Liberation Army (PLA) personnel displayed banners, posters and Chinese flags in protest when locals were celebrating the 86th birthday of the Tibetan Buddhist religious leader Dalai Lama. The incident took place along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on the banks of river Indus at Dolay area of Kuyoul.
"Chinese PLA soldiers and some civilians displayed banner just opposite side of river Indus at Dolay near Kuyoul, where Indian villagers were celebrating Dalai Lama's Birth Anniversary," Konchok Stanzen, Chushul Councillor, said. "This is unfortunate. They react to every development at the border. Too much from the Chinese side," he added. According to him, the incident took place on the morning of July 6 along the LAC.
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"The banner had something written in mandarin but we do not understand that language. But the area on which they were protesting belongs to India," he said. Meanwhile, the Indian Army has acknowledged that the incident has taken place along the LAC. "The incident happened on the occasion of Dalai Lama's birthday. They (China) do it every year. This is nothing new," Lt Col Emron Musavi, Defence Spokesperson based in Srinagar, told ETV Bharat.
"They were on their side and not on Indian territory," he added. This was not the first time such an incident had taken place in Ladakh. Earlier, in July 2019, locals celebrated Lama's birthday and China protested. The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of Tibet. He was born on 6 July 1935, to a farming family, in a small hamlet located in Taktser, Amdo, northeastern Tibet.
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At the age of two, the child, then named Lhamo Dhondup, was recognised as the reincarnation of the previous 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso. In 1950, after China invaded Tibet, he was called upon to assume full political power. In 1959, he was forced to escape into exile. Since then, he has been living in Dharamsala.
(with agency inputs)
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